Work In Progress
by Mrs Billy Pratt
Summary: Bruce has a hard enough time coping with life at SHIELD, but when new factors are added, he has to learn to live with a new- and very special- agent. Established Steve/OC, Pepperony, and lots of confusion. Chapter two is UP!
1. Chapter 1

"You lied." The phone fell from her hand as the same guy with the same suit and tie and the same boring haircut and the same yellow Taser told her the truth that the world had been hiding from her since she was born.

"Elizabeth, listen. SHIELD doesn't want to hurt you. We work with your father; we still have contact with him if you want to meet him…" Phil Coulson trailed off. She was forcing his options, she was making this harder than it needed to be. He sighed. "Lizzie, you don't want—"

"Don't call me that." Her voice was dangerous, it erupted out of her just like…

He took a step back. He didn't care what Dr. Selvig said: data wasn't always spot on. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth…you made me do this."

She gasped and made a face of total outrage as Phil stuck syringe full of the strongest human tranquilizer (stuff) in her arm. "You didn't…" she whispered as she fell asleep. He looked at her sadly as he hoisted her up onto his shoulder.

He sighed. "I'm sorry. I warned you." He whispered back.

"So what are the odds?" Tony Stark grinned at his lab partner.

Bruce Banner sighed and went back to his chemistry work. "Tony…please. Not now." He stopped and offered a shy grin to his weirdo best friend. "Aren't you supposed to be on a date with Pepper right now?"

Tony blanched and dropped everything in his hands, shedding his lab coat as he raced out of the lab and flew down the stairs, crying, "I'm coming, Pepper! I was late on purpose!" slightly desperately.

Bruce chuckled. He was about to sit back, relax, and enjoy the sights of electro-magnetic particle reaction, when in rushed Nellie.

"Oh, hey, Nell…" he started to say, but she cut him off.

"Doc, Phil's back. Fury wants everyone to see him, kay?" She seemed slightly put off, which was unlike her. Her purple bob seemed paler, she wasn't blowing bubbles with her gum, and she was wearing _scrubs._ Usually she wore jeans and a _Pierce the Veil _t-shirt along with a pair of Converse under her lab coat, but today she wore protocol uniform. Bruce shrugged off the oddity of it and walked with her.

"So," he mused conversationally, "seen anything weird in your office lately?"

She shrugged. "Just a coupla arrows ta the knee."

Bruce nodded. "Buzz again?"

Nellie nodded.

Before he could answer, they had reached the meeting room. It contained everyone: Phil, Tony, Pepper, Thor, Jane, Dr. Selvig, Steve, Natasha, Clint, Juliette, Buzz, Fury, Hill, and finally, a girl he knew…but didn't know. She had long, straight, brown hair, and opal eyes. He was mesmerized by those eyes. Always shifting color…always changing. The eyes were squinted, taking in the whole room with a lingering feeling of utter distrust, utter loathing…when they came upon his face, the eyes came to a feeling of complete and total raw hatred. Bruce felt ashamed that the beautiful orbs hated him; he needed them to like him…didn't he? He felt connected to those wonderful eyes—but not romantically.

"Banner!" Fury interrupted his train of thought, bringing him back to reality.

"Uh, yes?" He said.

Tony sighed. "Didn't you hear him? He says…well, he says something _very _interesting, don't you, Dad?"

Phil face-palmed. "I am not Mom, Fury is not Dad, and Maria…"—Agent Hill flashed him a visual warning—"sorry, Agent Hill is not the evil step-mother!"

Tony shrugged. "Whatever."

"Tony, will you shut up?" Steve said exasperatedly.

"You know, I don't recall asking for your opinion on the matter," Tony said, standing up, "does anyone else?"

Juliette groaned and Steve stood, too, releasing himself of her tight grip, "No, but usually, you don't have a conscience enough to shut up, therefore I take it as my _civic duty_—"

"Oh, yeah? Well, I take it as my _civic duty _to tell you that it's not your _civic duty_ to tell me to shut up! What the heck is civic duty, anyways? "

"Alright, that is it—"

"ENOUGH!" The girl shouted, and everyone stared at her. "Well, _he _obviously wasn't doing his _civic duty, _so I intervened."

Juliette shook her head and eased Steve back into his chair. "What has gotten into you?" she murmured as storm clouds formed in his eyes.

"Nothing, I just…I'll tell you later." He brushed her off, and the meeting continued.

"This," Fury smiled, and everyone shuddered, "is a friend of ours. Her name—"

"My name is none of your business, but if I must, I'll tell you. It's Elizabeth." She glared at Phil as she went on, saying, "I used to know what my last name was, but now I don't."

Bruce coughed.

"Her last name is something I suppose we should play a little game with." Fury displayed that same smile, but this time the room broke out in yells.

"Hey, wait a minute—"

"This is supposed to be a meeting, not team-building—"

"Where's the mission? I need a mission, man!—"

"What's with the guessing game!"

"SHUT UP!" This time it was Bruce who had yelled, causing everyone to jump and sit back down quietly. Tony raised his hand and Phil sighed.

"You don't have to raise your hand." Phil rolled his eyes.

Tony stood, and Phil sighed again. "Is it, perhaps…Rogers? Maybe Capsicle had a one-night-stand and never told anyone?"

Steve blushed and Juliette shot a glare at Tony that clearly said, "Shut your mouth before I do it for you."

Phil smiled. "No, Miss Rosewood, it's not Rogers."

This time Juliette was the blushing one.

Clint suggested, "How 'bout Stark?"

Everyone laughed, even Pepper. Tony shrugged as if to say 'I don't know. Maybe.'

"While that's very likely, no. It's not Stark."

Natasha shot a vicious face at her partner as she said, "Barton, maybe?"

Clint snickered, until he realized that she had said 'Barton'…not 'Banner'. Then he frowned.

"Nope. It's not that."

"Romanov!" Clint shot back.

Phil sighed. "No."

"McNab!" Tony shouted, casting a look at Buzz.

Even Fury laughed at that. Phil shook his head.

Steve offered a name. "Uh…what about Banner?" Bruce coughed, cleared his throat, and pulled out a rag and started polishing his glasses. The room shook with laughter, but everyone except Fury, Natasha, and Phil were laughing.

All emotion slid off Bruce's face as the laughter died down, Fury still with that look on his face.

"Oh, no…," Bruce murmured as reality struck. "No way…"

Phil managed an awkward smile. "I would like to welcome Miss Elizabeth Banner to SHIELD."

**A/N: This just happened in my head the other day. I have no clue why. It just did.**

**PLEASE REVIEW BECAUSE I SHOULD BE DOING SOMETHING ELSE SO I NEED TO KNOW IF IT WAS WORTH IT.**

**Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: A continuation of this crappy story. Apparently. I thought it was pretty good, but…I guess no one else did. Oh well. CHAPTER DOS.**

**Disclaimer: Yeah, if I owned these characters, chances are they wouldn't be nearly as awesome as they are. THANK YOU STAN LEE!**

Tony started cackling like an idiot as Bruce paled and fell over, unconscious, in his chair. Nelly and Steve rushed over to him to make sure he wasn't dead, Phil was in the middle of trying to keep Elizabeth from killing everyone in the room, Fury was attempting to get order, and Natasha and Clint were having a very loud argument with each other—from the looks of it, it was about to get physical.

"Well, that went well." Maria muttered, standing in the center of the chaos with Juliette and Buzz.

Fury finally got sick of the screaming (Elizabeth and Phil) and brandishing of various lethal weapons (Clint and Natasha) and laughing maniacally (Tony). He pulled out a shot gun and shot once, twice, three times at the water filter in the corner of the room. Everyone stopped and stared at the poor cooler as it leaked water all over the floor.

(In the above floor, a few agents were giving a newbie a tour of the place when the shots were fired. The only one to flinch was the new guy. He said panicked, "What was that?!"

The two other guys just sipped at their coffee. "Fury's having a meeting with the Avengers. Tony probably tried to get Steve to put him in a half-nelson or something." The newbie stared in awe at the ceiling.)

"Will you all please _shut up?!_" Fury screamed. There was a long silence, interrupted only by Steve clearing his throat as he dropped Bruce's still form on the ground. "You, too, Superman."

"I resent that!" said Steve indignantly. He stopped talking when Fury cast a glare at him.

"Agent Romanov, you get to help her train. Ag—" Fury was interrupted, causing everyone to gasp.

"I refuse to work for this freak-show! I'm a human being!" Elizabeth yelled. "I don't _care _if my dad just so happens to be a lab accident, I'm not working here!" She grabbed Phil by the arm and spat, "Take me home."

"That's not an option," Phil said lightly.

"Yes it is. Now take me home." She ground each syllable out carefully.

"This is home. You get to stay with…" Phil's eyes wandered over all the individuals in the room, skipping over the males, and of course Natasha and Maria. That left him with three options: Jane, Pepper, or Juliette. He quickly made his decision. "Juliette. You get to stay with Jules."

Steve chuckled, and was quieted with a punch to the ribs. "Ow." He glared at Juliette, who glared back.

"Alright." She shot another glace in Steve's direction, causing him to sigh exasperatedly. "I will gladly welcome Elizabeth into my…uh…living quarters."

Tony smirked. "You don't share a room with the Human Torch already? Or at the very least a bed?"

Juliette chucked a pen in his general direction.

"I'll take that as a yes." Tony chuckled.

**Later that day** Juliette led Elizabeth into her room.

"Here it is." She waved her arms around the tiny room.

"This is it?" Elizabeth stated, but her voice was muted. "I thought they'd give the Avengers a bigger room or something."

Juliette laughed and grabbed her sparring equipment, walking into the bathroom. "I'm no Avenger. I just work the control room. I can do missions though. I just got through with one in New Mexico."

Elizabeth sat down on the bed on the right. "Is this going to be my life? Missions, initiatives, gamma radiation…is this what my life is going to be like?"

Juliette walked back into the room with leggings and a tank top on and sighed. "Probably. I don't really know." She handed the girl a paper with her schedule on it.

"Does everyone else get a schedule?" she asked the agent.

"Yeah. Trouble is, no one uses it." Juliette started for the door. She looked over her shoulder at the deflated form of Elizabeth and asked, "Coming?"

The girl shook her head and Juliette walked out the door, down the stairs, and into the training center. Steve, Natasha, and Clint were already there.

"Hi guys," Juliette greeted them.

"Hi Jules." Clint said, panting for breath as he sparred with Natasha.

"Hi, Juliette," Natasha breathed, placing a kick in Clint's gut.

"What, are you trying to block my chi?" Clint groaned. **(AVATAR REFERENCE!)**

"Hey, Jules," Steve muttered back, punching another sand-filled bag and watching as it flew across the room.

"Where do you get all these punching bags?" Juliette wondered.

Steve shrugged and grabbed another. "Tony's a billionaire, remember?"

Juliette walked on and stopped when she was at the taekwondo/karate fighting area. Fortunately, Natasha was busy, which meant that she would be fighting dummies again. She didn't mind. Dummies don't moan.

"So what do you think about Bruce's…" Natasha trailed off as she punched Clint in the gut and performed an excellent spinning jumping hook kick. **(Which, by the way, is just as hard as it sounds.)**

"Kid?" Steve filled in the blank for her and re-wrapped his hands. "She's…a lot like him, that's for sure."

"She's pretty much just like him." Juliette practiced a double roundhouse kick. "Always angry, but chock-filled with emotion."

"Wuhndrwhu," was all Clint could manage.

"He says, 'Wonder why?'" Natasha translated, and stopped to take a break. Clint fell to the ground and moaned.

"That," Steve conceded as he aimed a perfect and fatal blow to the bag, "is an excellent question. Bad past? Maybe something to do with her mom."

"Yeah," Juliette said, and kicked the dummy with an inside-to-outside crescent kick. "Who is her mom, anyways?"

"She's a former doctor," Clint panted, "a radiation oncologist."

"How would you know?" Steve questioned, tying another bag to the chain hanging from the ceiling. "And what do you mean, former?"

"I mean she was murdered a few years back." Clint stood and rinsed his mouth clean of any blood. "Pretty gruesome, apparently. And I know because I worked here when it happened. Stabbed three times in the back, then had her appendages sawed off."

"That's gross," Juliette said frankly. One, two, three front foot side kicks. "Why would anyone do that? And why was SHIELD informed?"

"Easy." Natasha stood waiting for Clint in her fighting stance. "No DNA to figure out who was dead. They eventually found her arms and head, but her legs are still missing."

"Wonderful." Steve grimaced and punched the sand-filled cloth bag four times in a row.

"SHIELD knew because of Bruce." Clint started with a simple front kick, then used a roundhouse and finished with a back kick. "As much as he denied it, SHIELD knew she was the mystery girl. SHIELD checks out all of the agents love interests, even former ones." Clint glanced at Steve and paid for it dearly. Natasha threw a few punches and an outside to inside crescent kick, leaving his nose bloodied.

"So that's how they knew about her?" Juliette knocked the head of the dummy off with a high roundhouse kick.

"No," Steve remembered, "Phil met her on the way to Thor's hammer. She lived in the same town as Jane Foster and showed extremely…well, she knew a lot about gamma ray technology."

Juliette turned around and glanced at Steve. "Reading the files a lot lately?"

He kept striking the bag. "Only relevant ones."

"Anyways, Steve was right about the bad past." Clint tried to sweep Natasha's feet out from under her and she grabbed his leg, spun him around, and pinched a pressure point on his neck. He passed out.

"Her mother was involved in various drug dealings," Natasha continued, facing Steve and Juliette, "but she wasn't purposely. She just lived in a bad neighborhood. Sadly, the possibility exists that Elizabeth was a witness to her mother's death. Not the decimation. Just her death."

"No alibi?" Steve stopped and un-wrapped his hands.

"Bingo. She was most likely hidden in a closet. She was relocated by CPS to a foster home. Phil became friends with the girl, but when he found out about her mother, he soon realized her father was Bruce Banner, and the rest, as they say, is history." Natasha finished cleanly.

Everyone was done with their various activities, so Steve hoisted a still form of Clint onto his shoulder and the three exited the room. "That's pretty horrific," Steve concluded.

"Very." Natasha finished the conversation grimly.

There was a pause before Juliette said, "What's for dinner?"

"We could go out?" Steve suggested half-heartedly.

Natasha shook her head. "We will most likely end up eating in the cafeteria."

Clint groaned, but not for the same reason as Steve groaning and Juliette making a face.

Natasha shrugged. "Food is," she sighed, "food."

"Yeah," joked Jules, "for dogs maybe."

"And Thor," Steve pointed out.

"And Thor," agreed Juliette.

Natasha rolled her eyes.


End file.
